The Book and The Sword (42 page)

But the dagger's blade was also still firmly lodged between its teeth. They were all perplexed at this: the dagger was obviously in Chen's hand and had not snapped. Where had the blade in the wolf's mouth come from?

Chen bent over and tried to pull the blade out of the beast's mouth, but although the wolf was dead, its teeth was still clamped tightly shut. He used the dagger to slit open the wolf's jowls, and the muscles and tendons on its face collapsed, freeing the blade. Chen examined it closely and saw that it was hollow, like a scabbard. He stuck the dagger blade inside, and found it fitted perfectly. Huo Qingtong had said when she presented the dagger to him that it was said to contain a great secret. If it had not been for this wolf and its strong teeth, who would have guessed that there was a blade within the blade?

Princess Fragrance took the dagger from Chen and examined it, marvelling at the design of the second scabbard and the precision of the workmanship. She turned the hollow outer blade upside down and a small white pellet rolled out. Chen and Huo Qingtong bent down to get a closer look and saw it was a small ball of wax.

"Let's open it," Chen said. Huo Qingtong nodded. He picked the ball up and lightly squeezed it, cracking the wax open, revealing a small piece of paper inside, which he spread out. On the paper was a map drawn as densely as a spider's web.

Zhang had seen them discover the piece of paper, and glanced at it stealthily. But he was disappointed to find it was covered in Muslim writing, which he could not understand.

Chen knew something of the Muslim written language, but he could not grasp the meaning of the classical characters on the piece of paper and handed it over to Huo Qingtong. She examined it closely for a long time, then folded it up and placed it in her pocket.

"What does it say?" Chen asked. Huo Qingtong did not answer, her head hung low.

Princess Fragrance knew her sister well and smiled. "She is trying to work out a difficult problem. Don't disturb her," she said.

Huo Qingtong sat down on the ground and began to draw lines in the sand with her finger. She drew a diagram then rubbed it out and drew another. After a while, she wrapped her arms around her knees, deep in thought.

"You are still weak. Don't overtax yourself," Chen said to her. "You can work it out later. The important thing now is to think of a plan for getting out of here."

"I'm working on a way to escape these hungry wolves and these human wolves as well," Huo Qingtong replied, pouting angrily at Zhang as she spoke. She continued her meditations for a moment, then said to Chen: "Please stand on a horse and look westwards. Tell me if you can see a mountain with a white peak."

Chen led the white horse over and did as she said. In the distance, he spied a cluster of mountains, but could see none with a white peak. He searched carefully for a minute longer then looked down at Huo Qingtong and shook his head.

"According to the map, the Secret City should not be far from here, and we should be able to see the White Jade Peak."

Chen jumped off the horse's back. "What secret city?" he asked.

"When I was young, I heard people talk about an ancient city that was buried in this desert," she replied. "The city was once extremely prosperous, but one day a great sand storm arose, and dunes as large as mountains buried it. None of the city's residents escaped." She turned to Princess Fragrance. "Sister, you know the story better than I do. You tell it."

"There are many stories about the place, but no one has ever seen the city with their own eyes. No," she corrected herself. "Many people have been there, but few have returned alive. It is said that there are huge amounts of gold, silver and jewels there. Some people who have lost their way in the desert have found their way into the city by chance and have been overwhelmed by the sight of such wealth. They naturally began to load the gold and jewels onto their camels to take away with them. But no matter which way they went, they found it impossible to get out of the city.

"Why?" Chen asked.

"It's said that all the people of the city turned into ghosts when they were buried by the sand, and that they bewitch visitors who try to take valuables away with them. But if you put down the valuables, every single piece, then it's easy to find your way out."

"I doubt if many people would be willing to do that," said Chen.

"Yes. Seeing such riches, who wouldn't want to take some? It is said that if you don't take anything, but even leave a few extra taels of silver in one of the houses, then the wells will spurt clear, fresh water for you to drink. The more silver you leave, the more fresh water there is."

Chen laughed. "The ghosts of this secret city sound very greedy."

"Some members of our tribe who were badly in debt have gone to look for the city, but only those who didn't find it have ever come back," Princess Fragrance continued. "Once, a caravan crossing the desert came across a man who was half dead. He said he had entered the city, but had found himself going in circles when he tried to get out again. Finally, his strength gave out and he collapsed, and the next thing he knew was the arrival of the caravan. The caravan leader asked him to lead them to the city, but he refused. He said he wouldn't take one step into that haunted place again even if he received all the riches of the city as a reward."

"It doesn't necessarily have to be that these people were bewitched by ghosts," said Chen. "If someone suddenly came upon a huge amount of gold and jewels, it could affect their minds and make it difficult for them to think clearly. But if they decided they did not want the riches, it could clear their heads, and make it easier to find the way out."

"The map hidden in the scabbard shows the way to the Secret City," Huo Qingtong said quietly.

"Ah," exclaimed Chen, suddenly understanding.

"The map indicates that the city was built around a high snow-capped mountain." she continued. "From the look of it, the mountain should not be too far from here. We should be able to see it. I cannot understand why we can't."

"Sister, you're wasting your time," said Princess Fragrance. "Even if we could find the mountain, what use would it be?"

"We could escape into the city. There are houses and fortresses in the city and our chance of escaping the wolves would be much greater than here."

"That's right!" Chen said. He stood on the horse's back once more looking west. But all he could see was a hazy white sky stretching to the horizon.

Zhang and the Three Devils could not understand a word of what they said, but they watched suspiciously as Chen stood on the back of his horse twice, and wondered what devilment he was up to.

Princess Fragrance took out some dry rations and divided them up amongst all of them. As she sat eating, she gazed out beyond the flames at the horizon. Suddenly, she jumped up.

"Sister! Look!" Huo Qingtong followed the direction of her hand and saw a black spot stationary in the sky.

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's an eagle," Princess Fragrance replied. "I saw it fly over from here. But how could it suddenly stop in mid-air?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I clearly saw it fly across."

"If the black spot isn't an eagle, what could it be?" asked Chen. "If it is an eagle, how could it remain motionless in mid-air? It's very strange." The three watched the spot for a while, then saw it move and become larger. A black eagle swept over their heads.

Princess Fragrance raised her hand to tidy her hair, which had been blown about by the wind. Chen looked at her snow-white skin and the white material of her dress next to it and realised the answer.

"Look at her hand!" he said excitedly to Huo Qingtong.

"Yes, her hands are very pretty," she replied absent-mindedly.

"Of course her hands are beautiful. But don't you see? Because her skin is so white, it's difficult at a glance to tell where the hand begins and the dress ends."

"So?" asked Huo Qingtong, puzzled.

"The eagle was sitting on top of a white mountain!"

"Yes! You're right," Huo Qingtong exclaimed. "The sky over there is white, the same colour as the peak, so from a distance, it can't be seen."

"Exactly," said Chen.

Princess Fragrance realised they were talking about the Secret City. "How do we get there?" she asked.

"That is what we have to carefully work out," Huo Qingtong replied. She pulled out the map again and studied it carefully again for a while. "When the sun starts to sink towards the west, we'll be able to tell if there's a mountain there or not by its shadow."

"We mustn't give ourselves away," said Chen. "We don't want the others to work out what we're doing."

"Yes. Let's pretend we're talking about this wolf," she suggested.

Chen pulled the wolf across and the three sat around it, now pulling out one of its hairs and examine it closely, now opening its mouth to look at its teeth. The sun gradually sank towards the west and the mountain's shadow did indeed appear, stretching out longer and longer across the desert like some giant lying down. Huo Qingtong drew a map on the ground, estimating the distances.

"From here to the mountain must be about twenty or thirty miles," she said, turning the wolf over.

Chen picked up one of its legs and played with its sharp claws. "If we had another horse apart from the white horse, the three of us could make that in one go."

"So we have to think of some way to get them to allow us to go," Huo Qingtong replied.

"Yes." He picked up his dagger and slit open the wolf's stomach.

"What's so interesting about that dead wolf?" Zhang shouted, annoyed at not being able to understand what they were saying. "Are you discussing how to bury him, Master Chen?"

"We are discussing how to get out," Chen said. "Look, the wolf's stomach is completely empty."

"Do you have a plan?" Zhang asked.

"When the firewood has all been burned and there is no more to collect, then we are all going to die, is that not so?" Zhang and the Three Devils nodded. "But if one of us were willing to sacrifice himself and ride out of the circle, the wolves would swarm after him like bees from a hive. Once they were drawn off, the others could escape.

"But what about the one who goes?" asked Zhang.

"If he comes across either the Manchu or Muslim armies then he will be all right. Otherwise he will die. But it is better than us all dying here together."

"It's not a bad idea," said Tang. "But who's going to lead the wolves away? It's certain death."

"What do you suggest, Brother Tang?"

Tang was silent. "Let's draw lots," Hahetai suggested. "Whoever loses, goes."

"Yes, let's draw lots," Zhang said eagerly. Chen had wanted to offer himself and then break out with the sisters. But he could not suggest it without arousing their suspicions, so he said: "Just the five of us will draw. Let us exempt the two girls."

"We're all people," Gu protested. "Why should they be exempted?"

"How could we live down the shame of being saved by a girl?" said Hahetai. "I would prefer to die here."

"I think that if we're going to draw lots, we should all draw," said Tang, wanting to lessen the chance of himself being chosen.

They all looked at Zhang, waiting to hear his opinion. Zhang had already worked out a plan and knew he could not lose. Moreover, one of the girls was wanted by the Emperor and he fancied the other for himself.

"I will not allow a lady to save my life," he said proudly.

"All right, then," said Gu. "We'll let them off."

"I'll collect some sticks to use," said Tang, but Zhang stopped him.

"No," he said. "It's too easy to cheat with sticks. We'll use copper coins instead." He pulled a dozen or so coins from his pocket and selected five. "Four of these are Emperor Yong Zheng coins and the fifth is from the reign of Emperor Sun Zhi. Please examine them. They are exactly the same size."

"And whoever picks the Emperor Sun Zhi coin leads the wolves away," Tang added, as he carefully examined the coins.

"Exactly," said Zhang. "Why not put them in your bag for the draw, Brother Tang?" Tang did as he said.

"Now, who will go first?" Zhang asked. He looked at Gu and saw his hands were shaking. "Brother Gu is afraid," he said with a smile. "Life and death are governed by fate. I will go first." He stretched his hand onto Tang's bag and pulled an Emperor Yong Zheng coin out.

"Oh, what a pity!" he exclaimed. "I won't be able to be the hero." He opened his first and showed the coin to the other four. The five coins were the same size, but the Emperor Sun Zhi coin was about eighty years older than the others and therefore slightly smoother and thinner, although not enough to be immediately obvious.

Chen's turn was next, and to his disappointment he chose an Emperor Yong Zheng coin.

"Brother Gu, if you please," Zhang said. Gu drew his sword and flourished it threateningly.

"It's a trick!" he shouted. "You already decided that it would be one of us three."

"What do you mean, a trick?" Zhang demanded.

"They're your coins, and you had first choice. How do we know you haven't marked them in some way?"

Zhang's face went white. "Then what do you suggest, Brother Gu?"

"One of those Yong Zheng coins in your pocket is lighter in colour than the others. Put that in with four dark ones, and whoever picks the light one goes."

Zhang hesitated for a second, then smiled. "Just as you say. But I fear it will still be you who goes to feed the wolves." He surreptitiously bent the light-coloured coin slightly before placing it with the others.

"If neither you nor I lose, I will fight you afterwards," Gu said threateningly.

"It will be my pleasure," replied Zhang. He put the five coins in the bag. "You three gentlemen choose first, then myself and lastly Master Chen, is that satisfactory?"

The Three Devils did not object. "Brother Hahetai, you first," said Tang.

Just as Hahetai put his hand in the bag, Huo Qingtong shouted out in Mongolian: "Don't take the bent one!" He started in fright. The first coin he felt was indeed slightly bent. He chose another one and pulled it out: it was dark coloured.